RECIPES FROM MY BOOK “EATING WITH POPE FRANCIS”(# 2): ARGENTINIAN “EMPANADAS”

The book “Eating with Pope Francis / Food in the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio “ (A tavola con Papa Francesco, the original Italian title) which I had the honor to write, is not just a sort of food biography on a Pope who graduated in Food Chemistry and is very prepared on the dynamics of food preparation. The book is also a sort of singular “recipe book” that draws inspiration and reason mainly from the dishes that the future Pope had had the opportunity to prepare in Buenos Aires (Argentina) before to be elected Pope in 2013.

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In the book 36 recipes are presented and illustrated with photos. I am happy to report a few of them. So, from today, I will propose those that, in my opinion, are considered the “historical” recipes, those that have marked moments and traits of life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

The book – with different titles according the different Countries where it has been published – is still available in bookstores, including online ones, like Amazon, where the book is collecting highest ratings by the readers.

Published in 14 Countries, in different languages, the book is divided into very topical issues, which concern environmental sustainability and actions against food waste. The various editions have 208 pages and over 250 photographs. The volume received the 2018 Bancarella Cucina Selection Award. The second recipe proposes the traditional empanadas from Argentina, Country where the Pope was born.

THE RECIPES WITH “CHEF FRANCIS” : ARGENTINIAN “EMPANADAS”

Empanadas are one of the main and typical components of Argentine cuisine. Impossible not to speak of empanadas even when telling about Pope Bergoglio. In this book, in this regard, several anecdotes are narrated, a couple of unpublished ones, as in the fifth chapter, entitled “When in Buenos Aires Bergoglio ‘multiplied’ the impanadas”: a surprising fact, which tells a lot about the personality of the future Pope. So, here is a summary of the recipe.

Ingredients

Pasta ingredients: 200 g of flour, 80 g of butter, 100 ml of water; for the filling: 2 eggs, 1 onion, 4 spoons of oil; 140 g of minced meat, 1 tablespoon of raisins, paprika, cumin, pitted black olives, salt and pepper to taste There are also different variations of the filling, according to everyone’s tastes and preferences.

Procedure

Work the flour with water, melted butter, a drizzle of oil and salt until you have a homogeneous mixture. Store in the fridge, covering with cling film. For the filling: cook the eggs until they are firm and let the onion cut finely. Add the meat, let it brown for a few minutes. Rehydrate the raisins. Add the spices to the meat, season with salt and cook for about ten minutes. Roll out the dough and cut the disks. Fill them with a spoonful of filling each, a piece of boiled egg and 1 olive. Seal the empanadas with the prongs of a fork and bake at 200 ° C for 15 minutes.

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